5.  The applicant was born in 1957 and prior to his arrest lived in Ganja.
6.  The applicant is a former head of the Ganja City Police Office and the Dashkasan District Police Office. On 11 January 2001 the Military Assize Court found him guilty of various crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
7.  Council of Europe experts considered the applicant to have been a political prisoner. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated in its Resolution 1305 (2002) adopted on 26 September 2002 that it was profoundly disturbed by the fact that the applicant had neither been pardoned nor granted a retrial.
8.  The applicant was dispensed from serving the remainder of his sentence by a presidential pardon decree of 20 March 2005.
9.  According to the applicant, on 16 October 2005, when he was dining at his friend’s home in Baku, nine or ten plain-clothes police officers entered and arrested him. The applicant was taken to the Narimanov District Police Office, where a record on an administrative offence was drawn up by police officers.
10.  On the same day the applicant was taken to the Narimanov District Court and appeared before a judge. The judge found the applicant guilty under Article 310.1 (obstructing the police) of the Code of Administrative Offences and sentenced him to fifteen days’ administrative detention. The judge held that the police had arrested the applicant at around 7.30 p.m. on 16 October 2005 near the metro station Ganjlik in Baku, because he had failed to comply with a lawful request of the police to present his identity card.
11.  On 21 October 2005 the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s decision.
12.  By a letter of 29 October 2005, a certain R.M. informed the Ministry of National Security (“the MNS”) about the applicant’s unlawful activities, claiming that he had been conspiring to usurp State power by force. The author of the letter asked the MNS to carry out a search in the garden of the applicant’s house where the applicant had buried weapons in order to use them for the purposes of the said crimes.
13.  On 30 October 2005, the police and officers of the MNS carried out a search of the applicant’s house and garden, situated in the village of Bayan in the Dashkasan region. According to the search record of 30 October 2005, some weapons and ammunitions, including different types of guns, an assault rifle, a pistol, cartridges and a grenade, were found buried in the garden. The search was carried out in the absence of the applicant, his lawyer or members of his family. The search record was signed by police officers, two attesting witnesses (hal şahidi) and two employees of the local executive authority. It appears from the case file that the search was carried out on the basis of a decision by the Ganja City Nizami District Court and was filmed. However, despite the Court’s explicit request to the Government to submit copies of all documents and materials relating to the criminal proceedings, including a copy of the video recording of the search, the Government failed to provide the Court with a copy of the video recording.
14.  On 30 October 2005, while in administrative detention, the applicant was informed that he was being charged with the crimes of conspiring to organise mass disorder, illegal possession of weapons and conspiring to usurp State power by force under Articles 28 (preparation of a crime), 220 (mass disorder), 228 (illegal possession of weapons) and 278 (usurpation of state power by force) of the Criminal Code.
15.  On 31 October 2005, relying on the official charges brought against the applicant and the prosecutor’s request to apply the preventive measure of remand in custody in respect of the applicant, the Nasimi District Court ordered the applicant’s detention for a period of three months.
16.  According to the applicant, during the night of 31 October to 1 November 2005 he was subjected to electric shocks twice in the temporary detention facility of the Organised Crime Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
17.  It appears from the case file that on 22 November 2005 an expert examination was carried out in order to establish the ballistic, technical and chemical characteristics of the weapons and ammunition allegedly found on 30 October 2005. The Government failed to provide the Court with a copy of the report of the expert examination of 22 November 2005.
18.  On 27 January 2006 the Nasimi District Court extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention until 30 May 2006.
19.  On 24 May 2006 the Nasimi District Court extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention until 30 October 2006.
20.  On 4 July 2006 the investigator questioned R.M. as a witness. R.M. stated that he had known the applicant since 1992 when the latter was the head of the Dashkasan District Police Office. When they had resided in Turkey between June 1998 and January 2000 the applicant had informed him about his intention to organise a coup d’état in Azerbaijan. R.M. further stated that the applicant had also informed him at that time about weapons buried in the garden of his house situated in the Dashkasan region. He did not know how the applicant had obtained those weapons.
21.  On 4 August 2006 the investigator questioned Z.M., a police officer, and E.A. and N.G., employees of the local executive authority, who had participated in the search. They stated that they had been present, together with two attesting witnesses, when the weapons buried in the garden had been found.
22.  On 5 August 2006 the investigator questioned R., who had participated in the search as an attesting witness. He stated that he had seen the weapons which had been buried in the garden and had signed the search record.
23.  By a decision of 11 August 2006, the investigator severed the original criminal case (no. 76586) and opened a new criminal case (no. 76811) against the applicant. In the context of the new criminal case, the applicant was charged only under Article 228.1 (illegal possession of weapons) of the Criminal Code.
24.  On 14 August 2006 the investigator issued a final bill of indictment in criminal case no. 76811 under Article 228.2.2 (illegal possession of weapons committed repeatedly) of the Criminal Code and filed it with the Dashkasan District Court. It appears that the original criminal case (no. 76586), which still carried the charges against the applicant under Articles 28, 220.1 and 278 of the Criminal Code, was not sent for trial, but was not terminated either.
25.  In their observations lodged with the Court, the Government submitted a copy of the record on the applicant’s familiarisation with the materials of the criminal case (“cinayət işinin materialları ilə tanış etmə protokolu”), dated August 2006 (the exact date of the record is illegible), which was signed by the investigator, the applicant and his lawyer. The relevant part of the record reads as follows:
“[the applicant] I have become completely acquainted with the materials of the criminal case without any time restriction. As the criminal investigation was biased (qeyri-obyektiv) and ... [this part is illegible], we will raise our questions in the proceedings before the court. I have also become acquainted with the video recording.”
26.   In the course of the proceedings before the Dashkasan District Court the applicant claimed his innocence, insisting that the criminal case against him had been fabricated and that the weapons in question did not belong to him. The court heard Z.M., a police officer, and E.A. and N.G., employees of the local executive authority, who reiterated the statements they had made during the investigation. The statements which R.M. and R. had made during the investigation were read out at the hearing.
27.  On 7 September 2006 the Dashkasan District Court found the applicant guilty under Article 228.2.2 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. The court held that the applicant’s guilt had been proven by the real evidence (different types of weapons) found during the search of his garden. The part of the judgment concerning the applicant’s conviction reads as follows:
“Assessing all the evidence, the court considers that the statement of the accused, Efendiyev Natig Islam oglu [the applicant], made before the court, having a defensive character and being an attempt to escape responsibility, may not be accepted as evidence and that his statement was contradicted by the objective evidence examined by the court.
The court considers that the investigation has correctly qualified the action of Efendiyev Natig Islam oglu under Article 228.2.2. of the Criminal Code and that he should be sentenced to a sanction within the framework of this article ...”
The judgment made no mention of the reason for the absence of R.M. and R. from the hearing. In their observations submitted to the Court, the Government produced a copy of two telegrams, the texts of which were illegible. According to the Government, by those telegrams R.M. and R. had informed the first-instance court that they could not be present at the hearing for health reasons.
28.  The applicant appealed against the judgment, claiming his innocence. He alleged that all the evidence had been fabricated and that the weapons found in his garden did not belong to him. In this connection, he submitted that the house had been uninhabited and the weapons found in his garden could easily have been planted there. He also noted that it had been impossible for him to have buried those weapons in the garden as he had been in prison until 20 March 2005 and following his release from prison he had been under strict police surveillance. He pointed out in this connection that the investigation and the first-instance court had failed to establish how he had obtained the weapons or when he had buried them in the garden. Moreover, when the weapons had been found they had been clean and there had been no trace of soil on them. The applicant further complained that the lower court had failed to show the video recording of the search. He also complained that despite his request, the first-instance court had not heard at the hearing one of his neighbours, N.M., who had been present during the entire search. Lastly, the applicant complained that, in spite of his explicit request, R.M., the person who had reported the existence of the weapons to the MNS, had never given evidence before the court. In this connection, he noted that there was a clear bias in R.M.’s statement against him, since according to the latter’s letter the MNS had already conducted a fruitless search of the garden in 1999.
29.  On 20 November 2006 the Court of Appeal upheld the first-instance judgment and dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The Court of Appeal’s judgment made no mention of the applicant’s request to show the video recording of the search. It also failed to reply to the question how the applicant had obtained the weapons and when he had buried them in the garden. Nor did the appellate court hear R.M., the police officers or the two attesting witnesses who had signed the search record. It did not provide any explanation as to the absence of R.M. However, the applicant’s neighbour did give evidence in the proceedings. The relevant part of the Court of Appeal’s judgment reads as follows:
“The witness, Mammadova Najiba Isa gizi, heard at the Court of Appeal at the request of the defence, stated that ... her house was near Natig Efendiyev’s [the applicant] house. On the morning of 30 October 2005 when she went out she saw some people that she did not know next to the gate of Natig Efendiyev’s garden. As the gate was closed they asked her whether someone lived there. She told them that the house was uninhabited and then these persons entered the garden by breaking the lock of the gate. At that time there were about 15-16 persons in the garden; 3-4 of them were searching the surroundings of the house and the garden and some of the others were drawing up a record. She was in the vicinity of the latter. Later, those who were searching the garden shouted ‘we have found weapons’. She went with these people to the place where the weapons were found and they showed a blue plastic bag in which there were some weapons, saying that they had found them by digging the land. As the hole in which the weapons had allegedly been buried was smaller than the weapons, she remarked to the policemen that this hole was small and asked how these weapons could have been placed there. Moreover, the weapons and the blue plastic bag containing the weapons were clean. Then a record on the fact that the weapons had been found was drawn up. Her presence was not noted in the record.
The witness N. Mammadova also stated that she had not seen that the persons who had searched Natig Efendiyev’s house had brought with them bags containing weapons and other belongings ...
The panel of the court considers that the submissions of the witness, Mammadova Najiba Isa gizi, heard at the court at the request of the defendant, did not refute the fact that the weapons and other ammunition were found during the search in the garden of Natig Efendiyev’s house, situated in the village of Bayan ...
The panel of the court finds that the Dashkasan District Court’s judgment in respect of Natig Efendiyev, which is lawful and justified, should be left unchanged and the defendant’s appeal should not be granted.”
30.  The applicant lodged a cassation appeal reiterating his previous complaints. In particular, relying on Article 6 of the Convention he complained that the Court of Appeal had failed to hear evidence from R.M. at the hearing and to show the video recording of the search. He further complained that the search had not been carried out in accordance with the domestic law, since despite the fact that his neighbour had been present during the search, her presence had not been noted in the record. He also complained that the appellate court had not taken into consideration his neighbour’s statement that the weapons found in the garden were new and clean.
31.  On 17 April 2007 the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s judgment. The Supreme Court’s decision made no mention of the particular complaints raised by the applicant in his cassation appeal.